Anne Frank

Anne Frank, Booklist, Books, censorship, Collection Development, Current Affairs, Early Word, Film, Francine Prose, Libraries

A New Anne Frank Movie

August 13, 2009

In case you missed it, yesterday Early Word reported that Disney has acquired the rights to a new film version of The Diary of Anne Frank, with David Mamet helming the project. Our very own Francine Prose was mentioned in the article, as was her forthcoming book Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife (9780061578267). Early Word reports: "One of Prose’s objections to the earlier versions is that they don’t show Anne’s growth as either a person or an artist; 'On the pages, she is brilliant, on the stage, she is a nitwit.' She also points out that they attempted to 'universalize' the story to broaden it’s appeal; few mentions are made of the family’s Jewishness and Anne was made to seem more hopeful. Says Prose about the movie, 'She sounds like an American girl. And why not? It’s an American movie.'" David Mamet is sure to challenge our assumptions about this beloved piece of literature, just as Francine Prose has done with her book. Be sure to check out Booklist's starred review, in full, after the jump.

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Anne Frank, Books, Current Affairs, Francine Prose, Kenneth C. Davis, Libraries

Anne Frank

June 12, 2009

As we've mentioned, Ken Davis has a feature on his blog called "This Day in History." Here's a quote from today's post, as well as some exciting information on the forthcoming Anne Frank by Francine Prose.

"Anne Frank would have been eighty years old today. This anniversary of her birthday seems especially poignant in light of the deadly shooting of a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. on June 10, 2009."

Here you'll read in Anne Frank's words her feeling about her writing ability:

“I know I can write. A few of my stories are good, my descriptions of the Secret Annex are humorous, much of my diary is vivid and alive, but… it remains to be seen whether I really have talent.” (April 5, 1945)

This September HarperCollins will publish Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife by Francine Prose. The diary of Anne Frank, argues Francine Prose, is as much a work of art as an historical record. Through close reading, she marvels at the teenaged Frank’s skillfully natural narrative voice, at her finely tuned dialogue and ability to turn living people into characters. And Prose addresses what few of the diary’s millions of readers may know: this book is a deliberate work of art. During her last months in hiding, Anne Frank furiously revised and edited her work, crafting a piece of literature that she hoped would be read by the public after the war. The book unravels the complex, fascinating story of the diary, its composition and revisions, and effectively makes the case for it being a work of art-and the teenaged Anne Frank, a precociously gifted writer.

The book includes the historical background and context necessary to understand the importance of the diary, and is the only volume that offers such a rich and well-researched account of this enormously influential memoir.

Francine Prose has secured the approval and support of the Anne Frank House Foundation in Amsterdam for Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife.

-Virginia